US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the deployment of a missile submarine to the Middle East, and has requested that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier battle group sail more quickly to the region, after the United States said on Monday that they believe Iran or groups it supports could launch an attack against Israel this week.
The moves come as the US and other allies are calling for Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal that would help ease rising tensions in the region following the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a top commander Hezbollah in Beirut.
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, said Iran's response to the killings “could come this week” but that “it's difficult to assess at this point if Iran does launch an attack, what form it would take.” Mr. Kirby said that the US and its allies are preparing for “serious attacks”.
“The president is confident that we have the capabilities to help defend Israel if needed. Nobody wants the situation to get to that point,'' Mr Kirby said.
Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement that Secretary Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier in the day and reiterated America's commitment “to take every possible step to protect Israel and noted the strengthening of US military presence and readiness throughout the Middle East in the face of escalating regional tensions.”
In a joint statement, the leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy “call on Iran to abandon its continued threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security in the event of an attack by like that”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke by phone Monday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and “expressed grave concern about the risk of a regional conflict in the Middle East,” the German government said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also spoke to President Pezeshkian and urged Iran not to attack, the prime minister's office said.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group, which was based in the Asia-Pacific, had previously been ordered to the region to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier group, which was scheduled to leave the Middle East for returned to the United States.
Pentagon spokesman Ryder did not say how soon the USS Georgia missile submarine would arrive in the region. He said Secretary Austin and Minister Gallant also discussed Israel's military operations in Gaza and the importance of avoiding civilian casualties.
The call comes a day after an Israeli airstrike hit a school that had been turned into a shelter in Gaza early Saturday, killing at least 80 people and wounding nearly 50 others, in one of the deadliest attacks of the war in Gaza, health authorities said. Palestinian, which are controlled by Hamas and do not distinguish between civilians and militants.
